Manipur-bound truck set ablaze after SAYO ban on Mao community

An uneasy calm reigns in Vishuma, Nagaland, under the Khuzhama police station, after miscreants set fire to a truck bound for Manipur on December 17.

The incident is thought to be a 'outcome of the ban' imposed by the Southern Angami Public Organisation on members of the Manipur Mao community from entering Southern Angami inhabited areas in Nagaland.

The 'ban' went into effect on December 15.

According to reports, members of the Southern Angami Youth Organisation (SAYO) checked the documents of every Imphal-bound truck and detained a truck belonging to a Mao community member. Later, the suspected SAYO members set fire to the truck.

Meanwhile, an official team led by Mao MLA Losii Dikho has been appointed.

The Manipur Police's senior brass as well as the Home Commissioner joined an official team led by Mao MLA Losii Dikho to assess the situation.

It should be noted that, as of December 15, the SAYO had instructed the Mao populations residing in the southern Angami region to "withdraw" from those territories.

The Southern Angami Public Organization (SAPO), which is the basis for SAYO's decision, accused the Mao Council and the Manipur Government of "threatening the very peaceful co-existence and security of the region by harbouring and deploying the Manipur Arms security personals, issuing 144 CrPC and forcibly building illegal roads, houses, electrification...demolition of the South Angami People's rest house and constructing an illegal alternative route to Dzukou".

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